SC to hear plea for security of Kanakadurga and Bindu today

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said it will hear a plea seeking 24X7 security for the two Kerala women – Kanakadurga and Bindu – who recently entered the Sabarimala temple Friday.

The matter has been listed for hearing today before a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices L N Rao and S K Kaul.

In the plea, one of the women, Kanakadurga who was attacked by her mother-in-law, has sought security for both the women. The plea sought directions to all authorities to allow women of all age groups to enter the temple without any hindrance and to ensure security and safe passage, including police security to women wishing to enter the temple in future. It also pointed to danger to her life and liberty.

The petition sought directions declaring authorities not to conduct the rite of purification or to shut the temple on account of any woman of the age of 10-50 having entered the temple.

“Issue directions to declare that the rite of purification diminishes the dignity as human beings and violates their fundamental right,” it said.

It also sought directions declaring that any form of prevention of women aged between 10 to 50 years from visiting the hilltop shrine is contrary to the September 28, 2018, judgment of the apex court.

A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, in a 4:1 verdict paved the way for entry of women of all age groups into the Sabarimala temple, saying the ban amounted to gender discrimination.

Kanakadurga, 44, and Bindu, 42, stepped into the hill shrine guarded by police on January 2, three months after the apex court’s historic judgment.

Following the entry of the women into the shrine, the chief priest had decided to close the sanctum sanctorum of the temple to perform the ‘purification’ ceremony.

The top court has said it may not start hearing pleas seeking a review of the Sabarimala verdict from January 22 as one of the judges was on medical leave.

Earlier, the apex court decided to hear in open court the review petitions against the verdict. Besides Justice Indu Malhotra and the CJI, justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud are part of the five-judge Constitution bench.

Justice Malhotra had delivered the dissenting judgment in the case.

There are around 48 petitions seeking review of the judgment and they were filed following violent protests in favour and against the verdict.

The right-wing outfits, including the BJP, have been protesting the LDF government’s decision to implement the SC order. The state had witnessed protests and violence after the two women entered the shrine.

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